644 Broadway (Bleecker Tower)

Eight stories, a 7,257-square-foot corner lot, 48,182 square feet of residential area across fourteen homes — an average well above 3,400 square feet. This is a large-loft building by arithmetic. ACRIS share transfers run in East and West lines two per floor across the residential floors, which is exactly the configuration the historical accounts of the 1980–81 conversion describe and is the reason apartments here read as full half-floors rather than as conventional apartments.

The corner geometry is the product. Two exposures on every corner unit, the chamfered angle producing an unusual window wall, and the ceiling heights of a building designed for banking on the ground floor and manufacturing above. The remaining 6,883 square feet is ground-floor retail, which in a fourteen-unit cooperative is a meaningful share of the building and typically a meaningful offset to shareholder maintenance — ask the managing agent whether the retail is corporation-owned and producing rent, or a separately held commercial cooperative unit, because the two produce very different budgets.

Here is the situation honestly. Nothing in the records reviewed classifies the residential units at 644 Broadway as joint living-work quarters for artists. Department of Buildings filings carry the occupancy as RES and, more recently, as R-2. No filing describes an artist's studio or a JLWQ apartment. That is not the same as a clean answer.

What the record does establish is the zoning context, and it is exactly the context in which the question arises. Every Department of Buildings filing on this building that carries a zoning district records M1-5B — the manufacturing designation that governed NoHo until December 2021 and under which residential occupancy in this area was generally available only as joint living-work quarters for artists, occupancy limited to certified artists and their households. A building converted to residential use in 1980–81 in an M1-5B district is precisely the profile in which a JLWQA classification appears on a certificate of occupancy, and in which it is routinely missed in diligence.

What changed is the zoning, not the paperwork. The December 2021 SoHo/NoHo rezoning replaced M1-5B here with M1-5/R9A inside the Special SoHo-NoHo Mixed Use District (SNX) and made conventional residential use available going forward, with a voluntary path for converting existing conforming JLWQA use to residential use. Existing JLWQA occupancy may continue, subject to the same restrictions that applied before. What a rezoning does not do is amend an existing certificate of occupancy, a proprietary lease or an offering plan that describes units in the old terms. A JLWQA designation surviving on a C of O can affect an appraisal, a lender's willingness to finance, an insurance placement, and a seller's ability to describe a unit as a conventional apartment.

So do this, in writing, before contract: pull the current certificate of occupancy for BIN 1008418; ask the managing agent whether any unit is or ever was classified as joint living-work quarters or as commercial or light-manufacturing space; ask whether the cooperative has filed anything to convert or clarify occupancy since the 2021 rezoning; and ask what the board's position is on artist certification today. Your lender should have the answer before a commitment issues.

While you are at it, resolve the certificate of occupancy generally. The building has an Alteration-CO job open since September 2023 for the conversion of a ground-floor eating-and-drinking establishment to retail, and DOB records show the certificate reissued nine times as a renewal between August 2024 and September 2026. Establish whether a final certificate has issued.

The façade is the capital story here and it is a good one. Published historical records describe patch repairs in 1987 and again in 1992, followed by a determination that something more substantial was required — a full stabilization and restoration by Walter B. Melvin Architects, with specially formulated coatings applied to unify the elevations and prevent water intrusion, and the cast-iron balconies removed, stripped and rebuilt with stainless-steel joints. On a landmarked masonry-and-iron corner building of this age, that is the single most expensive category of work a cooperative faces, and evidence that it has been done properly is worth real money.

That said, the current operating and capital picture is not in the public record. The underlying mortgage and its maturity, the reserve position, any assessment in place, the retail lease terms and the current Local Law 11 cycle status are all matters for the financial statements. No audited financials for this cooperative were located in either offering-plan library. Have your attorney obtain the last two years of statements and the current board minutes.

None of this building's policies are published. These are the questions, in the order that determines whether a deal happens.

Board package and interview. You are buying shares and a proprietary lease. Board consent is required for a sale. In a fourteen-unit loft cooperative the package is comprehensive and the interview is typically with the entire board — expect two to three years of tax returns, a statement of net worth, supporting bank and brokerage statements, employment and personal references, and a fully executed contract before the package goes in. Build four to eight weeks into the timeline after contract.

Financing ceiling and minimum down. Not published. Loft co-ops of this vintage and size range widely, from conventional 20 to 25 percent minimums to all-cash-only postures in the tightest buildings. Get the current requirement in writing from the managing agent before you make an offer.

Post-closing liquidity. Ask for the standard the board actually applies, measured against monthly maintenance and debt service, and whether retirement assets count toward it. In a building where the average apartment is well above 3,400 square feet, the liquidity number is often the binding constraint rather than income.

Debt-to-income. Ask for the maximum ratio and whether it is calculated gross or net. Run the Co-op Board Qualification Calculator before you offer.

Sublet policy. Not published. Ask for the seasoning period, maximum term, any lifetime cap, the sublet fee and its basis, and whether the board approves the subtenant. Then ask separately whether short-term or corporate occupancy is permitted at all.

Flip tax. Not documented on file. Ask whether one exists, how it is computed — percentage of gross price, percentage of gain, dollars per share, or flat fee — and who pays it by custom here. At this building's price level the difference between those formulas is a six-figure number.

Pied-à-terre, trusts and LLCs. Not published, and each is a separate question. Ask whether non-primary-residence purchase is permitted, whether a trust may take title and on what guarantee terms, and whether an LLC may ever hold shares. Assume no on LLCs until told otherwise in writing.

Alterations. Two approvals, not one. The board's alteration agreement governs the interior; the Landmarks Preservation Commission governs anything visible from Broadway or Bleecker Street, including windows and storefronts. Budget the time as well as the cost — run the Renovation Cost Calculator with a Landmarks review priced in.

Recent sales

Recent transfers at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.

Market read. Most recent trades (2026) cleared a median $744/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 6.5% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.

Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 1-00529-0001) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage on co-ops is not officially recorded, figures shown are approximate.

Resolve the occupancy classification first. JLWQA is not documented here, but the conversion's M1-5B context means it cannot be assumed away. Pull the certificate of occupancy for BIN 1008418 and get the managing agent's position in writing before your lender commits.

Confirm whether a final certificate of occupancy has issued. There has been an open Alteration-CO job since 2023 and nine renewal filings since August 2024.

Underwrite full taxes. The J-51 from the 1980–81 conversion burned off by the early 1990s. Nothing is phasing out.

Understand the retail. Ask whether the ground floor is corporation-owned and rent-producing or a separately held commercial cooperative unit, and get the lease terms either way.

Get the whole policy stack in writing before you offer. Financing ceiling, minimum down, liquidity, sublet terms, flip tax, pied-à-terre and entity-purchase rules. None of it is public.

Price Landmarks into any renovation. Main NoHo Historic District — not NoHo East, which governs a neighboring building on this block under a different designation and a different report.

Get ahead of the certificate of occupancy. A buyer's attorney will find the open alteration job and the renewal history. Handing over the current certificate and the co-op's position at the outset converts a stall into a paragraph.

Answer the JLWQA question before it is asked. Even a documented "no" is worth having in hand, because buyers' counsel in NoHo ask it about every loft conversion of this vintage.

Sell the architecture with its sources. Stephen Decatur Hatch, the Manhattan Savings Institution, 1889–91, the copper tower, the restored cast-iron balconies. These are LPC-documented facts, not marketing claims, and they survive diligence.

Lead with scale. Half-floor lofts averaging well above 3,400 square feet in NoHo are the product. Say the number.

If you're considering 644 Broadway, also evaluate:

• 27 Bleecker Street — the 1888 loft cooperative on the same tax block, in the NoHo East Historic District under a separate designation, with documented joint living-work quarters; the closest neighbor and the sharpest contrast in occupancy posture
• 54 Bleecker Street — 1896 warehouse converted 1985–86; the closest peer on conversion vintage and J-51 history
• 40 Bleecker Street — the new-construction NoHo condominium alternative
• 36 Bleecker Street — NoHo loft building of comparable scale
• 10 Bleecker Street — small NoHo cooperative nearby
• 25 Bond Street — NoHo condominium; the tenure alternative at a higher price tier
• 40 Bond Street — Herzog & de Meuron's NoHo condominium; the trophy contrast
• 1 Bond Street — Bond Street loft building of similar unit count
• 27 Great Jones Street — NoHo loft cooperative a block east
• 303 Mercer Street — large NoHo cooperative; the scale contrast in the same submarket
• 285 Lafayette Street — Lafayette Street loft conversion of comparable vintage